Fender Stratocaster Redux

imikej · October 19, 2016, 07:16:27 PM

I've been obsessed with us getting closer and closer to a Fender Stratocaster that is photo-real. We modeled some new parts and really worked hard to figure out ways to convey the richness of these instruments after a bit of use. We're not there, and would love to read any suggestions or reactions. We're getting sorta close. A special shout out to our friend Esben Oxholm for a most excellent video on dusting up your model. Dust is the bane of product photographers. So, I was laughing and crying as I applied dust to this and then sat there painstakingly removing it. The folks in the studio just kept walking by shaking their heads. They are certain that I've lost my mind.

Josh3D · October 24, 2016, 08:34:29 AM

Love the dust story

Would love to see some other angles on this. This finish looks spot-on to me.

imikej · October 24, 2016, 06:46:49 PM

Sometimes you only need to see one angle to fall in love. Again. Really though. This was purpose specific to this environment and this perspective as we had to cobble together parts and model some new ones. If we ever get a really, really good Fender model, we'll do all the angles. But, until then, this will have to suffice.

Esben Oxholm · October 25, 2016, 11:51:02 AM

Quote from: imikej on October 19, 2016, 07:16:27 PM
A special shout out to our friend Esben Oxholm for a most excellent video on dusting up your model. Dust is the bane of product photographers. So, I was laughing and crying as I applied dust to this and then sat there painstakingly removing it.

Thanks for the shout out, Mike! Glad you found it useful.
I've had the same thoughts about the dust as well. In product photography time is spend removing dust, while we are beginning to spend time adding it in renderings (at least for some specific styles).

Looks great here, as well as the rest of the materials. The knobs looks stunning!
I feel like the table material and the glas ash tray thing take away some realism along with the transition from the table to the background.
I think that a tight DoF would help soften things up and add an extra layer of interest

imikej · November 17, 2016, 08:14:00 PM

Josh wanted a dif angle and Rex wanted a different ground plane. Hate to disappoint. This one was as tough as the first. Economies of scale didn't come to play on this. Would love to get reaction to where we are going with trying to get gritty with KS. Should be a rap song, but sadly we aren't capable of that.

LayC42 · November 17, 2016, 11:06:35 PM

This is awesome work! The materials comes very realistic. And I also like the lighting.

TpwUK · November 18, 2016, 12:45:58 AM

Massive improvement - Well done ... The strings need an almost rope like bump applied and the plectrum seems a tad too fat to me too, I'd be tempted to loose the ash-tray, it's too clean for your new render

Martin

imikej · November 18, 2016, 07:22:35 AM

Thanks, Martin! Seems like the black finish is more dramatic. Stronger reaction around the studio to the black. Have a blue version of this composition to work up to show how "easy" it is to change the color of a product. Be interesting to see which people gravitate towards.

Arian Shamil · November 18, 2016, 07:27:00 AM

Amazing work!

Robb63 · November 18, 2016, 07:31:29 AM

I think the blue looks great, but prefer the black just because that's a better color for a Strat (IMHO).
I think the wood on the black version looks a little off (too dark, maybe?), and as a player myself the action looks a little high on the black one, but that could just be the camera angle?

Overall I think both renders look amazing though! Great work!!

imikej · November 18, 2016, 07:34:54 AM

Robb63--assuming you mean the wood on the neck, right? That's a tough one to dial in. I have an older Strat and will take a look at it and see if I can get it closer. Thanks!

Hossein Alfideh · November 18, 2016, 01:24:08 PM

very nice Mike! the wood work on the neck is really nice as well as the dust work.
cheers!

Despot · November 21, 2016, 09:12:48 AM

I missed this, nice render Mike, love the ivory (?) materials, very realistic

Niko Planke · November 21, 2016, 11:45:05 AM

I am totally baffled. Those are amazing.

If i had to complain:
Something seems off about the screws on the tailpiece. It might be that those a slightly to shiny?
(i sat here the last few minutes staring at a screw on my desk trying to figure it out)
Looking at the cord, it might be a bit to reflective, and the color a bit to intense.
Last and the most nit picky, the indirect lighting seems to warm and bright compared to the reflections.

This is "complaining" on an extremely high level, but i guess its suitable if photo realism is the goal?

Magnus Skogsfjord · November 21, 2016, 02:00:07 PM

Very realistic indeed! +1 from me. Looks superb. Especially viewed in high res.